Murdaugh Murders Podcast - Was Alex Murdaugh Actually Shot? Part Two (S01E15)

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

Alex Murdaugh was allegedly shot in a botched "Assisted Suicide Plot" on Saturday, September 4th, 2021. In this breaking news episode, we analyze the three calls made to 911 on that fateful day, the charges pending against Alex and the charges pending against the man Alex alleges shot him, Curtis "Eddie" Smith. We also hear from Eddie Smith's attorney Jonny McCoy whose experiences with the criminal justice system provide a unique perspective as this case and others are concerned. And a special thank you to: The Bannon Law Group - From sitting by the fires to setting them, the Bannon Law Group has got you covered. Lauren Taylor Law - Few events are more traumatic and stressful than a divorce - let Lauren Taylor make a plan tailor made for you. Visit Lauren Taylor dot com to learn more. Ross & Pines - Uncovering the truth and fighting police coverups is what Noah Pines and his team of lawyers at Ross & Pines do when defending you from being falsely accused, or wrongly convicted, of committing a crime.  Nature's Highway CBD - Nature’s Highway is dedicated to introducing consumers to the life changing potential of CBD and its family of other relevant cannaboiniods. We pride ourselves on providing the purest, highest quality hemp products at the most competitive prices. Midwood Smokehouse - We're your neighborhood smokehouse using nothing but NC hickory hard wood and hard work to make the best barbecue around. For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don't know if anyone shot Alec Murdoch, but law enforcement recently released three 911 calls in the alleged shooting, which frankly, raised more questions than answers in this endless Southern saga. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two and a half years now,

and this is the Murdoch Murders podcast. The Murdoch Murders podcast Previously on the Murdoch Murders podcast. On September 4th, 2021, which was a Saturday of Labor Day weekend, Fitznews first broke the story that Alec Murdoch was allegedly shot. Almost immediately, sources close to the situation

told Fitznews that Alec's story was suspicious and not adding up. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which is the same agency that is investigating nearly all of the alleged crimes associated with the Murdoch family, released a statement the day after the shooting that said that Alec's head wound was superficial.

They never called him a victim. They never gave any suspect descriptions of the shooter, and they kept their statements simple, which to me was a hint that the story that the Murdoch camp was feeding the media was false. Around the same time, Alec Murdoch's lawyers, Dick Harputlian and Jim Griffin, started to embark on a week-long spin campaign

in an attempt to control the narrative and make Alec appear like the victim. They repeatedly fed the media a story that did not make sense, that Alec was changing attire on the side of a rural Hampton County road when a man drove up to him and shot him. And then things got weirder.

On Labor Day, that would be two days after the alleged shooting incident, a family spokesperson released a statement saying that Alec Murdoch was going into rehab and resigning from the law firm built by his family, and that would be PMPED. So keep in mind, the Murdoch camp was really pushing this opioid addict's story line hard

right after the alleged shooting, which they'd never done before. On that same day, PMPED, the law firm started by Alec's great-grandfather in 1910 released a statement to the media claiming that Alec Murdoch misappropriated millions of dollars from their law firm. So on that same week,

which would still be days after the Labor Day alleged shooting, the South Carolina Supreme Court suspended Alec Murdoch from practicing law due to evidence of misconduct that is under investigation. The next day, which would be September 8th, 2021, a few days after the shooting, sources close to the situation told us that police recovered the knife that slashed Alec Murdoch's tires

from the alleged shooting scene, and that knife was connected to Alec Murdoch. Murdoch's attorneys claimed that Alec had an entry and exit wound and was temporarily blinded in the shooting. They also told reporters that he was released from the hospital two days after the alleged shooting. So which is it?

Was it a serious injury or was he released two days later? The injuries certainly were not the only holes poked in the stories coming from the Murdoch camp this month. They told reporters that Alec was airlifted to MUSC in Charleston, but he was actually flown to a hospital in Savannah. They told reporters that Alec was changing a tire on the side of the road,

but the Mercedes-Benz SUV had run-flat tires that he was driving that day. They told reporters that Alec was on his way to Charleston from Moselle, but the road that he was on was out of the way from that route. Fitznews appeared to be the only media outlet holding the lawyers to account and calling out their lies.

Everybody else was just running around acting like it was a normal thing. However, the Murdoch spin campaign was abruptly thrown off course on September 10th when sled officials arrested 61-year-old Curtis Eddie Smith. Smith was hit with several serious charges, including assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature,

pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. In the arrest warrants, we learned that Alec Murdoch admitted to setting up a suicide scheme so his son Buster could collect a $10 million insurance policy. News of Eddie Smith's arrest broke late at night

on September 10th, around 11 p.m. But just hours later, Dick Harputlian appeared on The Today Show the next morning where he continued to push this opioid narrative. Harputlian claimed that Murdoch was trying to get off opioids on the morning of September 4th and decided to end his life. He called this guy who met him on the side of the road,

agreed to shoot him in the head, and this fake car breakdown. 30 minutes later, this guy's shooting him in the head. However, Eddie Smith's attorney tells a totally different story about what happened on September 4th, 2021. He received a call from Alec Murdoch that asked if he could go to Mr. Murdoch's parents' house

and said to bring the truck, which he understood to mean his work truck, and that work truck made Eddie believe that, well, he was coming to do some kind of odd job, and that's where he first encounters Mr. Murdoch in a suicidal, very agitated state. Murdoch was requesting that Eddie eventually assist him in shooting,

and wanted Eddie to shoot him at that time, to which he refused, and the state of Mr. Murdoch just continued to deteriorate, and there was a struggle for the weapon that went off at some point. Eddie left the scene, and Mr. Murdoch was still there

with no visible signs of injury. Now, two days after Smith was charged, Alec was also charged with three felonies in this alleged suicide for hire scheme. Less than two weeks after the alleged shooting, Alec Murdoch showed up at the bond hearing without a scratch on his head. This raised all sorts of suspicions in the public eye.

Was Alec Murdoch ever even shot? While Alec Murdoch's bond was set at $20,000, Smith, on the other hand, was set at $55,000 cash. In Hampton County Court that week, we watched two systems of justice play out in live action. One for people like Alec Murdoch, and one for people like Eddie Smith. On Friday, October 22nd,

the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, also known as SLED, released three 911 calls from the alleged Alec Murdoch shooting on September 4th, 2021. We're going to walk you through all 13 minutes of these calls. The first call we will play is from two witnesses

who passed by Alec Murdoch by himself on the side of Salkahadji Road in Hampton County, South Carolina, which is about 80 miles west of Charleston, South Carolina. BEEPING Hampton County, now on one, where's your emergency? Yes, on Salkahadji Road, and on the other hand, there's a man on the side of the road

with a lot of water on his way with his hand. He just landed a fleet weaving his hands around? He looks fine, but it kind of looks like a setup, so we didn't stop. Oh, I don't blame you. So here, the woman is saying that she saw a man on the side of the road, waving his hands with blood all over him, but she said that it looked like a setup.

And the operator in response says, I don't blame you for not stopping. What area of Salkahadji Road are you on? Our area. I don't like to hear you. We're walking halfway down Salkahadji Road. OK, all right. And this was shortly after you turned off

a Salkahadji Road, come across Salkahadji Highway, or? Let me pull over so I can look at my GPS. OK, can I try? Yeah, I'm trying to pull up a location as well on your phone. I know that we bear to the left. There's what's called a Sylvester Road. Yes, Sylvester Road, uh-huh.

OK, when you bear to the left there, he's probably two miles down. OK, about two miles from the Sylvester Road, bear off. Roughly, yeah. Roughly, OK. All right, well, let me get my deputies in that area to see what's going on. Can you give me a description of that mail?

So what's weird about this? The Hampton 911 operator says that she is dispatching Hampton County deputies here. While we don't know what time this call was placed, it was likely around the same time or slightly after Alec Murdoch called 911, which was at 1.34 PM. The Hampton County Sheriff's Office

wasn't even dispatched to the scene until 12 minutes after Alec placed that 911 call, which is very odd considering that they labeled the call an attempted murder in the police report. It took Hampton County deputies more than an hour to arrive on scene at Salcahatchee Road. Uh, I'm going to say he's probably in his 40s. OK.

He's not very large, but he's kind of heavy said. White hair, and it's a black, some kind of SUV, like a smaller Kia SUV or something. Uh-huh. Kia. And it stopped where he's at. Say what? You said that SUV stopped where he's at.

I couldn't understand what you're saying. The SUV is right where he's at as well. He's pulled over on the side of the road. There's no damage to the SUV. He's in the halogen light zone. OK. The trunk of it was open. OK.

All right. Well, let me get my deputies head to that area. What's your name and a good contact number for you? Bill, um, I'll have my, uh, dog photo. Deputies head it out that way, OK? All right. All right, so thank you. No problem.

Bye-bye. But again, it took Hampton County deputies more than an hour to arrive on scene, which raises several questions. What took them so long to dispatch deputies to the scene, and what took them so long to get there? Hampton is not that big. I like my first called Hampton County 911 at 1.34 p.m. September 4th.

Here is the beginning of that call. Hampton County 911, where's your emergency? Oh, um, Salker Hatchy Road. OK. What's the address on Salker Hatchy Road? I'm by the church. What church here? What church are you talking about?

I don't know the name of it with the red roof. Oh, OK. What end of Salker Hatchy Road? Because I don't know what you're talking about. Um, at the Hampton County side. OK. What's going on? I stopped.

I got a flat tire, and I stopped, and somebody stopped to help me. And when I turned my back, they tried to shoot me. Oh, OK. Were you shot? Yes. But I mean, I'm OK. You shot where?

Where were you shot at? As early as 49 seconds into Alex's first call, we realized that a second 911 operator is speaking with the bystanders. The 911 calls are happening simultaneously. Huh? Did they actually shoot you? They tried to shoot you.

They shot me. But OK, wait, you need EMS? Well, I mean, yes, I can't drive. OK, I'm bleeding a lot. A couple things here. Alex's tone of voice sounds more like he's ordering pizza than reporting to 911 that he was shot in the head by an unknown assailant.

Second, he tells the 911 operator that his tire was flat before he says that he was shot in the head. Third, Elect is not in any way appeared to be afraid of the alleged shooter. And finally, he doesn't sound like he's in any pain whatsoever. Well, what part of your body?

I'm not sure. Somewhere on my head. Your head? Somebody just stopped from me, ma'am. For 911. OK, still? Hey. OK, let me speak to him, see if he can tell me exactly where

you are. Well, fuck you, brother. Oh, I like your body. So, this is right here. Hold on, open that church. OK, I can run up there. OK. Ready?

Yeah, hurry, please. OK, I'm about two miles from the conventional barrel. OK, and what's your name? I'm still here, I'm still on the line with you. What's your name? Alex Murdoch. Alex Murdoch? Yes, ma'am.

And you see, you were driving, you got a flat tire, somebody stopped to help you and they shot you. Well, they pulled over, yes, ma'am, like they were going to help me. OK, still on the line with me, we're going to get some. I'm bleeding pretty bad. OK, still on the Missionary Church. Is that John Missionary Church?

Yes, ma'am. OK. The SUV is right where you are. And can you give me a description of the person that shot you and shot at you? Yes, ma'am, I mean, it was a white fella. What's your name? What's your contact number for you?

I'd say a white male. A fair amount younger than me. Really, really short hair. I have an ambulance coming in. You have an ambulance coming in? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Still on the line, I got them on the way.

Here, Alex Murdoch is describing the man who allegedly shot him. But here's the thing, this man, Alec is describing is completely different from the man who's led, arrested for shooting Alec Murdoch, who is Curtis Eddie Smith. Eddie Smith looks much older than Alec. He is 61 years old while Alec is 53.

He does not have short hair. He has long, curly hair. And we're going to talk to Curtis's attorneys about this later in this episode, but it's something to take note of. And something else, he quickly changes the subject. He really seems to not want to answer questions about who allegedly shot him.

He appears to want to get off the phone. You think one of y'all can drive me to the hospital? Yes, sir. You want to get the truck, though, because I've got a baby and he's too attached. You think one of y'all can get in this car and drive me? Yes, sir, I can. They're going to drive me to the hospital.

Alec Murdoch is apparently flagging down two people who were on Old Sakehachi Road that afternoon. He asked them if they can drive him to the hospital. One of them says that they have a baby in the backseat, and he would have to ride in the trunk, but without mentioning that he's bloody or anything like that. Apparently, the call drops, and that's the end of the call. Then Alec placed a second 911 call.

This is four minutes after he first placed a call to 911. At the beginning of that call, you can hear him instructing another person on how to start his car. Is it cranked? Yeah, it should be cranked, and that should then drive. OK, now it is.

911, where's your emergency? That's my lawsuit. This young lady is driving me to the hospital. She's carrying you to the hospital? Yes, ma'am. OK, and who is this? This is Alec Murdoch. I was on the phone a minute ago.

OK, all right. He said there's some race taking him to the hospital. OK. Oh, we've got a flat tire. Got two 10s left. Ma'am, I need the ambulance. You need the ambulance? OK, are you still in the same location?

Yes, ma'am. OK, which way are y'all heading? Are y'all driving down the road? No, ma'am. I've got a flat tire. OK, all right. Sit tight right there, OK? I'm serious.

Ma'am? Yes, sir, we're still here. We're still here. Hold on, we're dispatching. Now, giving them information. Where are you at? I'm going to get this all over your car. It's a simple old Salcahatchee near the St. John's.

All right, now they're taking me to the hospital. OK, so where are y'all traveling? We're coming down Salcahatchee Road to the Hanson Hospital. Y'all coming down Salcahatchee? Ma'am? Y'all coming down Salcahatchee Road to the hospital? Yes, ma'am. OK.

They're sitting. They're coming down. They're coming down Salcahatchee Road to the Hanson Hospital. All right, we're going to keep EMS in reach of you, OK? OK. It seems as though they're driving a white Nissan, which is not his vehicle. Are you coming off of Walterburg Highway?

We'll be at Walterburg Highway in 10 minutes or so. They said in about 10 minutes or so they'll be at Walterburg Highway. What kind of vehicle are you in? White Nissan Road. It's a white Nissan Road. And y'all still heading down the road? Mr. Murdock?

Yes, ma'am. OK, y'all still heading down the road? Yes, ma'am. OK. OK. And what's a good callback for you, Mr. Murdock? We're at Lightsy Crossroads now. You're at Lightsy Crossroads now?

Yes, ma'am. 10-4-Bit lives down Walterburg Highway in a white Nissan road. White Nissan road. Is the flashers on? Do you have them? No, this is going to be in the hospital at the stop. This time, there's those 10-17s to the hospital. OK, y'all still 17.

Do you have your flashers on on the vehicle? Is the flashers on? Is the flashers on? Yes. Yes. How's that 12? Your location for the end of the Zoom is being asked for at the hospital.

Tim, they're on Walterburg Highway. We see the ambulance, so we can pull over. 10-12. OK. Tell them we're in the white car. They're in the white Nissan RAG on Walterburg Highway. They are pulling over. They see the EMS.

OK, y'all stopped? I see them. You're at Walterburg Highway? And where? They're here. OK, OK. I'm going to hang out now. OK, then you.

At this point, it's at least 10 minutes after ELEC Murdoch initially called 911, and he was getting into an ambulance. And the plan was to take him to the Hampton Hospital. Careflight officials told me that the medical helicopter that transported ELEC Murdoch from a landing zone about seven miles from the alleged shooting scene was dispatched at 1.43 PM, approximately nine minutes

after ELEC Murdoch called 911. So who called a medical helicopter for ELEC Murdoch when he apparently had minor injuries? And was ELEC intentionally trying to divert law enforcement away from the scene? An eyewitness at the scene of the helicopter landing showed me pictures that were time stamped and said that the helicopter landed at the scene

along Charleston Highway in Vaughnville around 2.15 PM. And the helicopter left around 2.25 PM. The helicopter, which is based in Colleton County, transported ELEC Murdoch to the hospital in Savannah, Georgia. This leads to so many questions. Again, who called the medical helicopter and why isn't that apparent on these 911 phone calls? And what was the point of all of this?

Was he trying to end his life? Was he trying to get drugs at the hospital? Was he trying to do something to get the public to feel sorry for him? Or did he want people to believe that drug dealers were after him and his family? Or was all of this just a big distraction from the double homicide investigation?

The 911 calls, unfortunately, didn't answer any of those questions. And neither did the few pages of medical records released by ELEC's defense team last week. I don't trust those records. And I'm not going to waste my time analyzing them. We can clearly hear that ELEC was not suffering after this alleged shooting.

And he told the dispatcher that he is fine. So what does this mean for Eddie Smith? After the 911 calls were released, I took another look at the arrest warrants against Eddie Smith, the man charged in this alleged shooting. And I noticed something. The arrest warrants contain everything we know so far about Sled's case against Eddie Smith.

And it's concerning to see that ELEC's statement appears to make up a lot of the backbone of those affidavits, at least from what we can see. ELEC has proven to be completely unreliable. So why was his statement even mentioned in those arrest warrants? And another thing, ELEC was supposed to be the mastermind behind this operation. Why is he facing significantly less time in prison

than Eddie, who was charged with five felonies and two drug counts related to the search warrant in this case? Eddie faces up to 65 years in prison for charges related to the assisted suicide scheme, while ELEC only faces 20. From what we know, the only thing Eddie has admitted to is being there on Old South Hatchey Road and disposing of the gun afterwards.

Curtis has told his attorney and multiple media outlets that he wrestled the gun away from ELEC and the gun went off, but did not hit him. So does sled have any more evidence against Eddie Smith? In the last two weeks, I've had a lot of long conversations with one of Eddie Smith's attorneys, Johnny McCoy. McCoy has spent most of his career fighting for the wrongfully accused, including himself.

In 2009, when he was a young attorney, McCoy was wrongfully arrested himself by Columbia, South Carolina police officers in five points, which is a popular bar district downtown. Video evidence shows McCoy asking Columbia police officers why they were arresting his friend and then officers shoving him multiple times before placing him under arrest.

He was charged with resisting arrest and forced to spend a night in jail at the same detention center where ELEC Murdoch is now. During that time he was in jail, he watched a man hang himself. Those few hours in jail forever changed McCoy's life. While dealing with scars that just won't heal, McCoy became determined to use his law degree for good

and fight for those who had been wronged by the system. He eventually won a $300,000 settlement with the city of Columbia, which he then used to start his own law practice. In one of McCoy's cases, he won over $11 million in a civil rights lawsuit involving a Murdoch beach man named Julian Betten. Betten was shot nine times by police officers

while inside his home. I plan on getting into more details of that case in a later episode, but y'all need to understand that McCoy comes from a different place than most defense attorneys. So I started this conversation by asking McCoy what he thought of the 911 call. I mean, Alex Murdoch said that the guy who shot him

was quite a bit younger than him. We all know that Curtis is 61 years old, that he had very, very short hair, which we all know Curtis has got those beautiful golden locks. And I mean, at the end of the day, you're watching a mass manipulating liar con man lying. You're listening to him create a false narrative right in front of your eyes.

And first led to say, okay, okay, right, right. But this time, the second story, he said it was a confession. So, you know, the guy looks like a God-like figure. So if he's saying, all right, this is my confession. If this, then it must be true. And that is the craziest thing I've ever heard of as a criminal defense lawyer,

to think that an individual in a position of power can literally say, this guy did something to me, somebody that they don't like. This guy did something to me. And that person to just be arrested based on their words and their words alone with nothing. I mean, there's evidence to the contrary. There's not even evidence, obviously,

showing that anything Alex Murdoch said was the truth. There's evidence to the contrary all the way through it. There are no text messages. There are no phone calls. There's no, you know, a scheme drawn out on a match. There's no discussion about it. He was, Alex Murdoch was making it up as he went along, including the calling Eddie to the scene.

He was making it up as he goes along. And the entire goal was to make himself a victim and to change the public's perception of him as, you know, this guy's out killing and shooting and doing all these other things into somebody who is, you know, he's on the back end of violence. And when you think of it that way, you start to understand that this guy got his ultimate goal.

What's the ultimate goal? The narrative change. And then what's the secondary ultimate goal? Opioids in his veins. And he did both. He did both on the side of the road. After pursuing justice for his clients and himself in South Carolina for more than a decade,

McCoy has earned a unique perspective on inequity in our court system. He gets frustrated that the sword of justice seems to be swinging, but the scale is as unbalanced as ever. This is business as usual in the state of South Carolina when it comes to powerful people versus quote unquote, nobody's. I was a nobody. Julian Betten was a nobody.

Curtis Smith was a nobody. But not anymore. Not anymore. The only thing that's changed in the course of this case after the Today Show interview and all the other stuff that's been brought to life is these people in positions of power are starting to second guess who we can pick off.

Who's our next victim? Is it, can we continue going after no names? And that's the message that we hope to have since to the people in powerful positions who are ensuring that nobody's watching the watchers, that the watchers are finally gonna be watched. And they're gonna have to answer for what they've been doing around the state of South Carolina.

And they're gonna have to answer for what they did to Curtis Smith and Julian Betten and me. They're gonna have to answer for it finally. And that to them is completely foreign because they have never ever had to answer. Well, what happened with the Johnny McCoy investigation? What happened with the Julian Betten investigation? What's going on with the Curtis Smith investigation?

So for the first time ever on a national scale, the country is seeing either growth in competence or in on it. And I don't think that they're gonna be able to just get away with business. It's usual after this. We hope to learn more information about the Eddie Smith case in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to the Murdoch Martyrs podcast

and fitsnews.com, that's F-I-T-S news.com for the latest updates. Follow me on Twitter at Mandy Matney, that's M-A-N-D-Y-M-A-T-N-E-Y. And follow me on Instagram at Mandy underscore N, underscore Hilton head for more updates. Before we end this episode, I wanna tell y'all about a fabulous event coming up

in Columbia, South Carolina this month. On October 30th, a fundraiser will be held for the Stephen Smith family at the Capitol Club in Columbia. Proceeds will go to Sandy Smith's legal expenses and a scholarship fund in Stephen's name. I will be there. Cody Alcorn of Fox Carolina News will be emceeing. Check for links in the description

and you can donate to the GoFundMe. And I will be writing about this event at fitsnews.com. There's so much to unpack in this case and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired. If you believe like I do that Mandy is the best in the business and I'm a little biased, visit murdochmurderspodcast.com

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